Blessing of the Pets

Many churches throughout the world have taken to an annual Blessing of Animals Service.
Most of these services are held on or near the purported date of the birthday of Francis of Assisi, October 4.
Francis is known as the Patron Saint of the Animals and helps planners to have a focus for the services.
(For more on Francis)

The actual date and time of your service is totally up to you – many hold the service on the Sunday nearest to October 4, others the Saturday nearest. Some hold the service in the afternoon others in the morning. Some hold the service on the church lawn, others actually encourage the pets to come in the church building.
(For video examples)

Some use a minimal liturgy to focus on blessing each individual animal fairly quickly with least chance of distraction for the pet.
Some use a more formal liturgy with congregational singing and prayers.

But, it is good to remember that it doesn’t have to be elaborate to meet a need.
One pastor started by placing a notice of the service on the congregational notice board in front of the church building where thousands of people traveled by every day.
The first Blessing of the Pets service in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, brought 23 dogs and cats and their assorted people to meet the pastor on the church lawn – most of whom had never stepped foot into the church before this.

You are urged to give it a try.

Here are some ideas.
You may use any of them.
But you are encouraged to be creative.

ThanksGiving Becomes ThanksLiving: Doing for Others

Feasting has its place in our lives. Few of us are called to unrelenting austerity, and God’s bounty is certainly worth celebrating. We don’t want to recommend that joyous banqueting be removed from our lives, but that we look at it in a different way. At Thanksgiving, we tend to make a ritual of feeding ourselves and our friends to the point of gluttony, and we only remember the world’s hungry in an abstract way. New traditions at this time could serve not only to remind us of our heritage and abundance, but also provide direct action to help those who do not have the advantages we have.

First United Methodist Church in Rule, Texas, lived out a parable. Several weeks before Thanksgiving, their pastor gave each person a certain amount of money – five dollars to one, two dollars to another, etc. She asked them to serve as stewards and see what they could do with that money for the church. The report on Thanksgiving Day was of many projects to help people, to raise money for the church, and to enhance church life; and the congregation learned a new dimension to stewardship.